Dorudon

Dorudon
Temporal range: Eocene (Bartonian to Priabonian), 40.4–33.9 Ma
Dorudon atrox, Senckenberg Museum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: †Basilosauridae
Subfamily: †Dorudontinae
Genus: †Dorudon
Gibbes 1845
Species[2]
Synonyms

Dorudon ("spear-tooth") is a genus of extinct basilosaurid ancient whales that lived alongside Basilosaurus 40.4 to 33.9 million years ago in the Eocene. It was a small whale, with D. atrox measuring 5 metres (16 ft) long and weighing 1–2.2 metric tons (1.1–2.4 short tons). Dorudon lived in warm seas around the world and fed on small fish and mollusks. Fossils have been found along the former shorelines of the Tethys Sea in present-day Egypt and Pakistan, as well as in the United States, New Zealand and Western Sahara.[2]

  1. ^ Andrews 1906, p. 255
  2. ^ a b Dorudon in the Paleobiology Database. Retrieved July 2013.
  3. ^ Andrews 1906, p. 243